Brampton Guardian: Re: Flora column on minimum wage

Regardless of what you think about Wynne, the minimum wage increase was long overdue and the tactics used by Tim Hortons are inexcusable forms of bullying.

Flora writes, “That’s what businesses need to do to stay in business,” but that’s a lie.

Most businesses that are employing minimum wage workers in Ontario are big businesses. Many of them, like Tim Hortons, are raking in billions of dollars in profits. The CEO of Tim Hortons’ parent company, RBI, made $8,183,504 last year and Tim Hortons generated $3 billion US in revenue for RBI.

To own a Tim Hortons, any potential franchise owner needs a net worth of at least $1.5 million. Meanwhile, when minimum wage workers were working full-time last year, they were still living below the poverty line.

Flora also writes, “she increases the minimum wage just so people can pay more for their bread?”

In case Flora hasn’t noticed, prices have been going up ridiculously even when the minimum wage was frozen for 12 of the last 20 years. Workers in Ontario haven’t been able to keep up and they are the engines of this economy.